Dispensaries

The Times' Sunday article on marijuana dispensaries that make a profit may have an impact on the Los Angeles City Council on Friday, when it will consider two proposals: first, whether to ban dispensaries, and second, whether to allow 100 dispensaries to operate in the city. On Wednesday, the deputy city attorney forwarded the article to the City Council as evidence that the monies being made belied the claim that the medical marijuana collectives are operating as nonprofits. As a criminal defense attorney who has handled marijuana cases for the last 10 years, I encourage the City Council to take the easiest action: Do nothing.

Two former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies have been charged with conspiracy, perjury and altering evidence in connection with planting guns inside a medical marijuana dispensary to justify two arrests in 2011, prosecutors said. Julio Cesar Martinez, 39, and Anthony Manuel Paez, 32, were charged with one felony count each of conspiracy to obstruct justice and altering evidence as a peace officer, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Martinez was also charged with two felony counts of perjury and one of filing a false report.

March 11, 2014 | By Joseph Serna and Emily Alpert Reyes, This post has been corrected, as indicated below.

Drug enforcement agents raided and shut down several marijuana dispensaries Tuesday, the first move in what authorities say is a case they are building against a Los Angeles man. About 11 a.m., agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration with the help of Los Angeles police raided the Black Rose dispensary in Fairfax, Downtown Medical Caregivers off Main Street, Washington and Western Medical Group in Harvard Heights, Herbman in Exposition Park...

Two former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies have been charged with planting guns at a medical marijuana dispensary to arrest two men, one of whom prosecutors said was sentenced to a year in jail before the bad evidence was discovered. Julio Cesar Martinez, 39, and Anthony Manuel Paez, 32, face two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and altering evidence, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office announced Wednesday. Martinez was charged with two additional felony counts of perjury and one count of filing a false report.

SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court gave local governments the power Monday to zone medical marijuana dispensaries out of existence, a decision that upholds bans in about 200 cities but does little to solve Los Angeles' years-long struggle to regulate hundreds of storefront pot outlets. The unanimous decision provided clarity for cities and counties that want to rid themselves of the dispensaries, which sprouted up statewide after a 1996 voter-approved measure that sought to authorize medical marijuana but lacked specifics in how it would be regulated.

SAN DIEGO -- The city attorney is suing to force a medical marijuana dispensary to close, a sign of a changed policy since the resignation of Mayor Bob Filner. Soon after taking office, Filner had called for the city attorney to stop taking medical dispensaries to court to force their closure. The act was the beginning of a rift between Filner and City Atty. Jan Goldsmith. Just days after Filner's Aug. 30 resignation, Acting Mayor Todd Gloria reversed Filner's hands-off policy toward marijuana dispensaries.

There is a false assumption that medical marijuana regulation does not exist in Los Angeles. The Times' Sept. 27 editorial, " In a haze on pot policy," says, "In the face of this chaos, the federal crackdown is, to some, good news -- finally, definitive action is being taken to stem the uncontrollable expansion of medical marijuana franchises.” The federal crackdown in L.A. is thought to be in reaction to a void of attempted regulation....

WASHINGTON - The tidy Takoma Wellness Center, one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the nation's capital, has a quaint reception area furnished with black leather chairs, plants and artwork. On the front desk are a pile of business cards and a sign-in sheet. In the back, shelves are stocked with the latest marijuana accessories: pipes, cookbooks, even a machine that mixes the drug into butter or oil for cooking. All that's missing are more patients. Since opening this summer, the three Washington, D.C.-based marijuana dispensaries have served a total of 111 patients in a district with about 600,000 residents.

A newly formed association of Los Angeles medical marijuana collectives has challenged the city's efforts to control dispensaries, claiming in a lawsuit that the 2-year-old moratorium is unconstitutionally vague and that the City Council violated state law when it extended the ban until mid-March. The lawsuit, filed late Monday, is the first to take aim at the city's attempts to halt the explosive growth in dispensaries. It comes as the City Council's Planning Committee continued Tuesday to struggle with a permanent ordinance to replace the moratorium.

Medical marijuana dispensaries in California pump more than $100 million in tax revenue into state coffers, but that windfall is being threatened by a federal crackdown on the facilities, a group of dispensary operators told state tax officials Tuesday. In testimony before the state Board of Equalization, half a dozen medical marijuana activists -- including several who have seen their operations closed and assets seized by drug agents -- said federal raids are eroding tax revenue just when the fiscally strapped state needs it most.

Marijuana, cash and a handgun were seized in a DEA raid of several medical marijuana dispensaries in what authorities say is a case they are building against a Los Angeles man. Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Los Angeles police officers about 11 a.m. Tuesday raided the Black Rose dispensary in Fairfax, Downtown Medical Caregivers off Main Street, Washington and Western Medical Group in Harvard Heights, Herbman in Exposition Park...

March 11, 2014 | By Joseph Serna and Emily Alpert Reyes, This post has been corrected, as indicated below.

Drug enforcement agents raided and shut down several marijuana dispensaries Tuesday, the first move in what authorities say is a case they are building against a Los Angeles man. About 11 a.m., agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration with the help of Los Angeles police raided the Black Rose dispensary in Fairfax, Downtown Medical Caregivers off Main Street, Washington and Western Medical Group in Harvard Heights, Herbman in Exposition Park...

More than 100 pot shops have shut down since Los Angeles started enforcing new rules restricting medical marijuana dispensaries, City Atty. Mike Feuer announced Monday. In addition to the rules prompting scores of closures, Feuer said city lawyers had successfully fended off a host of legal challenges. In one closely watched case, they prevented a dispensary from opening in Mar Vista, securing a permanent injunction before it could set up shop. “We have a long way to go, but we have a great start,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, who joined Feuer at a press conference.

SAN DIEGO -- After years of wrangling, delay and study, the City Council on Tuesday approved a zoning plan that will allow less than three dozen medical marijuana dispensaries within the city. The plan will allow no more than four dispensaries in each council district. With one of nine districts already off-limits because of the density of its housing, that would allow a maximum of 32 dispensaries for a city of more than 1.3 million. The plan presented to the council, developed after months of meetings, would have allowed 131 dispensaries spread throughout the city, according to a study by the San Diego Assn.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration, taking the first regulatory step to accommodate the country's growing state-approved marijuana businesses, issued guidelines Friday designed to bring dispensaries into the banking system and end their risky reliance on stashing large amounts of cash. The step was a cautious one, reflecting conflicting pressures on the administration. On one side, many states now allow the sale of marijuana for medical or recreational use. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said last month that law enforcement agencies were increasingly concerned about marijuana sellers who are forced to deal in cash because the banks' unwillingness to deal with them prevents them from using credit cards.

Two robbers had fled an Echo Park medical marijuana dispensary in 2010 with their loot - cash and $10,000 worth of marijuana. They even dismantled the security cameras. But for no apparent reason, prosecutors said, they returned moments later and used a revolver to shoot two workers lying on the floor. Matthew Butcher , a 27-year-old clerk, died from a single gunshot wound to the head. With two bullets lodged in his head, a bloody and disoriented Urban Jones Jr. managed to grab a dumbbell to break the glass door and stumble onto the sidewalk to get someone's attention.

When the deadline passed Monday afternoon, Los Angeles city officials counted 169 notifications from people who intend to continue running medical marijuana dispensaries. Dispensary operators crowded the city clerk's office to beat the 4 p.m. deadline that ended the weeklong notification period. Burdened by the paperwork-intensive process, relieved staffers cheered when the last form was filled out. "The majority came in on the Mondays and then it was steady in between," said Holly L. Wolcott, the executive officer for the city clerk.

Seeking to bring the city's medical marijuana dispensary boom under tight control, the Los Angeles City Council decided today to cap the total number at 70, but to allow those that originally registered with the city to remain open. Under the city's 2007 moratorium on new dispensaries, 186 registered with the city. Officials believe at least 137 of those remain open in their original locations. Under the motion adopted this afternoon, those dispensaries could stay open but could be required to move to comply with the ordinance's restrictions on where they may locate.

Colorado kicked off 2014 with a historic first as legal sales of marijuana for recreational use officially began at stores around the state. Although many states allow medical marijuana, Colorado and Washington in 2012 became the first states in the nation to legalize pot for recreational purposes for adults. Washington is expected to pave the way for recreational pot dispensaries to open later this year. PHOTOS: Richest and poorest cities in America Nearly 350 retail marijuana licenses have been issued to Colorado businesses, according to the Marijuana Enforcement Division, the agency under Colorado's Department of Revenue that regulates the industry.